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Sociolinguistics from the Periphery "presents a fascinating book about change: shifting political, economic and cultural conditions; ephemeral, sometimes even seasonal, multilingualism; and altered imaginaries for minority and indigenous languages and their users."

The book under review appears as part of the OxfordUniversity Press series on the phonology of the world'slanguages, whose purpose is to offer a theoretical overviewof the phonology of one language. In the case of thepresent volume, the language is Portuguese, and it isdescribed within the framework of rule-based autosegmentalLexical Phonology. Although both continental and Brazilianvarieties are examined throughout, the basis for discussionis the continental variety spoken in Lisbon and Coimbra (4).In what follows, a synopsis and critical evaluation of thebook in question are given.

SYNOPSISChapter one deals with such preliminary issues asorthography, transcription system, and the history ofPortuguese. Likewise, the first half of chapter two islargely introductory, giving a nontheoretical introductionto Portuguese phonology (10-23). It is in the second halfof chapter two that M&A lay out some of their theoreticalassumptions. They assume a constriction-based model offeature organization based upon Clements and Hume (1995)with some minor modifications that in most cases appear tobe specific to Portuguese (e.g. they (28) reject scalarvowel height values argued by others to be necessary forother languages). Following discussion of the featuregeometry system, M&A give (fully specified) feature chartsfor the consonant, vowel, and glide systems of Portuguese(29-30). Next, they walk the reader through the basicreasoning behind their (radically) underspecified account ofPortuguese vowels and consonants (31-33). With respect tovowels, they find that /i/ is unmarked, and accordingly thevalue [+high] is to be filled in (along with redundantfeatures) during the course of the derivation. In theconsonantal realm, [+anterior] coronal segments are arguedto be unmarked, and accordingly the values of the C-placenode for these segments are filled in during the course ofthe derivation (along with redundant features). Featuretables representing the underspecified lexicalrepresentation of the vocalic system (35) and theconsonantal system (36) are also given.

Chapter three, which treats syllable structure, begins witha discussion of possible onsets and codas following theSonority Sequencing Principle. In their analysis of onsets,M&A argue in favor of empty surface nuclei basing themselvesupon surface alternations (in the continental variety only)such as [de'vu] 'I owe', [dve'r] 'to owe', and [dvdo'r]'debtor' (44-46). They adduce dialectal and child languageevidence in favor of their proposal that the nucleus vowelin such alternations is present in the underlyingrepresentation, but deleted at the surface in continentalPortuguese, leaving an empty nucleus. Next they discussglides and diphthongs by appealing to the notion of therhyme (46-52). Their position is that there are no lexicalglides in Portuguese; these are derived from underlying /i/and /u/ which can become glides when syllabified as part ofthe nucleus (when following another vowel) (46) or in theonset (when preceding a vowel) (51). Following this, theyturn their attention to possible coda consonants. Thediscussion centers around the fact that the only possiblecoda consonants in Portuguese are /l/, /r/, and /s/. Inthis section further vowel epenthesis evidence from BP isadduced in favor of the postulation of empty nuclei.Elaboration of the skeletal tier follows discussion of basicsyllable structure. X-slot theory (as opposed to CV theory)is adopted, and processes relating to the presence of emptyX positions are discussed (as in e.g. the realization of afloating nasal feature as a nasal consonant(59)).Additionally, they posit segments without skeletalpositions, and exemplify these by distinguishing lightdiphthongs (resulting from epenthesis) from heavy (lexical)diphthongs (55-58). Finally, they discuss syllabificationrules, which, when the proper conditions hold, associatenuclei (60), associate onsets (61), create empty nuclei(62), create empty onsets (62), and associate codas (63).It is not made entirely clear exactly where syllabificationfirst takes place. At times M&A seem to suggest that theyare taking the somewhat non-standard assumption that the URis enriched with syllable structure. This is the case ine.g. their discussion of the syllabification rules wherethey (64) say that ".the underlying syllables differcrucially from those on the phonetic level.." It ispossible that what is meant by "underlying syllable" in thiscontext is the resulting form after syllabification on thefirst cycle, although this is not stated. The same sort ofambiguity arises in their discussion of diphthongs (48-51)(e.g. "We propose that these phonetic glides are vowelsunderlyingly, and they are nuclei of independent syllables."(50)).

Chapters four and five deal with morphophonemic processesassuming a rule-based model of Lexical Phonology andMorphology (Kiparsky 1982). In chapter four M&A concentrateon inflectional processes such as gender and numberinflection in nouns and adjectives and verbal inflection.Two of the more important phenomena dealt with under theseheadings are the phonology of number inflection and vowelharmony in verbs. The various allomorphs of the Portugueseplural morpheme /s/ are argued (70-73) to be the result of aseries of morphology-sensitive phonological rules (i.e.phonological rules taking places in the lexical phonology)that are for the most part sensitive to syllable structure.Following Wetzels (1991), vowel height harmony is treated asautosegmental spreading of the height features of the themevowel onto the stressed vowel, following theme voweldeletion (82-83). In addition to this, there is claimed tobe an independent lowering rule, which is presumablycrucially ordered after the vowel harmony rule, althoughthis is not entirely clear. Although mentioned only inpassing, it seems crucial to their account that vowelharmony is a lexical phenomenon, since there existexceptions, as they note (85). Chapter five is a discussionof derivational morphology again from a rule-based lexicalphonology perspective. Such theoretical notions as roots,stems, and words are introduced and exemplified withPortuguese lexical items, while various idiosyncraticproperties of different Portuguese derivational affixes arediscussed.

Chapter six treats word-level stress. M&A develop arule-based analysis whereby Portuguese has two separatesystems for assigning primary stress: one system for verbs,and a separate system for nouns and adjectives. Lexicalitems can also be marked in the lexicon for exceptionalstress patterns. In these cases the rules do not apply.Given this set of circumstances, it seems clear that theyare assuming stress assignment to take place in the lexicalphonology, although this is never made explicit. In thesubsequent grid-based analysis that they develop, the entiresystem is basically analyzed as trochaic, with right-to-leftfooting, and a right-headed metrical word. For nouns havingno class marker, M&A posit a null class marker that has arhythmic position, and is still used in the calculation ofstress assignment (123). In this way, stress on such words(e.g. cafe', hospita'l) appears as regular. Additionally,they assume two main forms for lexical marking of stress:certain morphemes are "stress repellent" (124), and wordswith generally idiosyncratic stress, or antepenultimatestress, if not accounted for by a stress repellent morpheme,can be lexically marked (124).

Chapter seven treats several different phonological processnot already discussed earlier. Nasal vowels, as is hintedat in previous chapters, are treated as the realization of afloating nasal autosegment (130). The floating autosegmentis realized as a nasal consonant when it precedes an emptyonset, but nasalizes a vowel when there is no empty onsetposition to fill. This process crucially applies in thelexical phonology and accounts for several differentmorphological alternations, such as e.g. the two differentrealizations of the prefix /in-/ 'not,' as in (1) and (2)(132).

(1) incapaz [i~] 'unable(2) inacabado [in] 'unfinished'

In (1) the nasal autosegment can not fill the onsetposition, since this is already filled by a consonant. Ittherefore nasalizes the vowel. In (2), however, the onsetis empty, and can be filled by the feature, which is thenrealized as the unmarked alveolar nasal. Also discussed inthis chapter are continental Portuguese vowel reduction(134-136), processes conditioned by syllable structure(137-144) (e.g. Brazilian Portuguese /l/-->[w] in codaposition), and some connected speech (i.e. sandhi) phenomena(144-148).

COMMENTARY AND CRITICISM_The phonology of Portuguese_ succeeds in introducing thereader to some important problems in Portuguese phonology.It does, however, have some shortcomings, which I discussbelow.

One problem with the work under review is the fact that itis extraordinarily short (only 162 pages includingreferences, author index, and a short subject index; only148 pages of text). Indeed, it is half the size of mostother books in the same series (e.g. Odden 1996, Hammond1999, Weise 2000). The result of this is at times a lack ofexplicitness and development in the discussion, as might beexpected from such a short book with such a broad objective.An example of a problem related to this is the discussion ofthe relationship between the vowel harmony rule and thevowel lowering rule (86). In rejecting Harris' (1974)analysis, M&A claim (86) that they ".accept Wetzels'arguments maintaining that L[owering] R[ule] interacts withthe morphological rules and it applies at the lexicallevel..This proposal allows the LR to be a filling-rule thatfills the feature values of the root vowel that is notlexically specified." Unfortunately, the discussion is leftat this; neither do they clearly spell out what Wetzels'(1991) arguments are against Harris' elsewhere conditionanalysis, nor do they formalize the filling-rule. Theformer problem is particularly regrettable in a volume ofthis nature, since Wetzels (1991) is an article written inPortuguese, and one of the objectives of the authors (asstated in their preface) is to make available and expandupon analyses that have thus far appeared only inPortuguese. The latter, problem (the lack of formalizationof the filling-rule) is also bothersome since this rulepotentially interacts with the vowel harmony rule.

In other areas of the book, M&A appear to take somenon-standard assumptions without really justifying them aswell as would be expected. This is the case with thefloating nasal autosegment, which appears to be linearlyordered on the segmental tier, crucially at the place whereit needs to be in order to cause vowel nasalization (131).Likewise, in the discussion of stress assignment M&A (123)assume a phonetically null class marker with a rhythmicposition without theoretical justification and withoutdiscussion of the implications for other processes.

An additional criticism, is that the book includes neitherdiscussion of rule ordering, nor even a list of all of therules that have been posited (although a number of these arelisted with page references in the subject index).Likewise, it is not always clear exactly when (i.e. at whatpoint in the derivation and in what order with respect toother rules) features are filled in as part of theunderspecification account. Additionally, no fullderivations are given to demonstrate their analyses. Thelack of discussion on rule-ordering and interaction makes itdifficult to globally evaluate their analysis. The lack offull derivations for the analyses of particular problemsmakes it at times difficult to see how one rule interactswith another (e.g. vowel harmony and vowel lowering(85-86)).

The theoretical approach to the analysis in the book shouldalso be highlighted; as mentioned above, it is carried outwithin a serial, rule-based, Lexical Phonology approach (itshould be pointed out that they do not argue in favor ofthis theory, they merely adopt it as a descriptive device).That they prefer such an approach is, of course, notobjectionable in and of itself. What is bothersome,however, is the lack of comparative perspective, especiallyin light of the increasing acceptance of Optimality Theory(Prince and Smolensky 1993) among phonologists. In only oneinstance is an OT analysis even mentioned (this is M&A'sbrief discussion (73) of Morales-Front and Holt's (1997) OTanalysis of Portuguese pluralization). This may be theresult of the short length of the book. It is,nevertheless, unfortunate, especially for the reader who isultimately interested in phonological theory as opposed tothe phonology of a single language.

A final criticism of the volume under review is theapparent absence of sufficient editorial support; typos, andstylistic infelicities are more numerous than one wouldexpect from a book published by OUP. This makes at timesfor difficult reading. Some examples include: the variantspelling of an author's name (84) (Wetzels vs. Wetzel); theuse of variant possessive orthography with the same author'sname (84, 86) (Wetzels's vs. Wetzels'); reference to anexample claimed to be a rule that is, in fact, not a rule,but rather part of a feature geometry representation ((19)on page 78); and lack of consistency in the use of someterminology (e.g. the penultimate syllable is varyinglyreferred to as: "the syllable before the last" (109), "thepenultimate" (110), "the syllable preceding the final one"(113), "the second from the end" (114), and "the last butone" (117)). Additionally, one finds some lexical andsyntactic peculiarities such as several bizarre uses of thesuffix -ly (e.g. ".as it may be assigned to a previouslytrough position." (125)).

Despite these criticisms, _The phonology of Portuguese_will be of use to those who want an introduction to the basicissues in Portuguese phonology, especially for those who donot read Portuguese. Likewise, it will serve as a usefulreference since it is fairly data-rich (given its length),and since it brings together in one place analysis anddiscussion (although brief) of the major phonologicalphenomena of the language.

Andrew J. Koontz-Garboden is in the Department ofLinguistics and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese atIndiana University at Bloomington. His interests are inphonological and syntactic theory. Among other things, hisrecent work in these areas has focused on the formalanalysis of phonological opacity in optimality theory, andon syntactic markedness in pidgin and creole languages.

***********************************Andrew J. Koontz-GarbodenDepartment of Linguistics andDepartment of Spanish and PortugueseIndiana University / BH848Bloomington, IN 47405 U.S.A.